________________
AYAGAPATTAS AND THE BEGINNING OF JAINA CULT WORSHIP
A.L. SRIVASTAVA.
1
Mathura is known for the earliest Jaina stupas and Tirthankara images. Remains of the two earliest stupas have been unearthed from the Kankali Tila, one belonging to the Sunga age and the other to the Kusana times. The existence of a Jaina stupa of the second century B.C. is very clear from an inscription wherein a prasāda torana (arched gateway) is recorded to have been dedicated by a sravaka (a Jaina layman) named Uttaradāsaka. Another Jaina stupa belonging to the period immediately before Kaniska I i.e. first half of the first century A.D., is said to have been constructed by a sravika named Dhamaghesa.2 One of the Jaina stupas at Mathura was dedicated to the seventh Tirthankara Suparsvanatha. Mathura is said to have been the birth place of the Tirthankara Neminatha who was also worshipped there. Mathura was actually the main centre of Jainism. Ayagapatta-inscriptions mentioning the adoration of Vardhamana or Mahavira have also been found from Mathura.
4
Mathura was the first to carve the earliest Tirthankara images. The
36
Jain Education International
Shri Vijyanand Suri Swargarohan Shatabdi Granth
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
